British Universities Film & Video Council

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Merchant of Venice, The

Synopsis
Fiction film. A version of The Merchant of Venice directed by Phillips Smalley and his wife Lois Weber. Reviewed by Hanford C. Judson in Moving Picture World (February 14) with the heading ‘Full of Dignity and Scholarship’.
Country
United States
Medium
Film
Technical information
Black-and-white / Silent
Year of release
1914
Recording date
Feb 1914
Duration
c44; c4000 feet
Availability
Presumed to be a lost film.

Credits

Director
Lois Weber; Phillips Smalley
Screenplay
Lois Weber
Cast
Phillips SmalleyShylock
Rupert JulianAntonio
Douglas GerrardBassanio
Lois WeberPortia
Edna MaisonJessica

Additional Details

Production type
Fiction Films
Historical period
Renaissance Italy
Plays
Merchant of Venice, The
Subjects
Drama
Keywords
censorship; Shakespeare, William (1564-1616)

Notes

Notes
The film met with problems with the censors. A prominent rabbi in Chicago strongly objected on the grounds that the play ‘more than any other book, more than any other influence in the history of the world, is responsible for the world-wide prejudice against the Jews’. [cited in Ball p.208].
History
Presented as a Universal Special Feature. Ball notes that because the film was a special release rather than a release on the regular programme, exhibitors had to pay extra for it which may have contributed to its swift demise.
Reviews
Ball, Robert Hamilton. Shakespeare on Silent Film: A Strange Eventful History. London: George Allen and Unwin, 1968 (pp206-8, 353-4).

Production Company

Name

Universal Film Manufacturing Company

Record Stats

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